


Snapback

by numberth



Category: Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Art, Canonical Character Death, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Not Really Character Death, Self-Indulgent, very brief - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27507457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/numberth/pseuds/numberth
Summary: Grim is collecting the soul of one Harry James Potter.(But then, he doesn't.)
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I thought this up last night in a writing spree I've never had before and completed it today. Magical.  
> (after reviewing some character portrayal, backstory, and grammar, I did my best but this is also self indulgent so don't be too hard on it please)  
> Now, does this happen before Grim meets Billy and Mandy? After? Does he even meet them? Ambiguity gives it to you.  
> (Last thing, I winged the title and one of the meanings being baseball cap just made me think of Grim with a soul-string-strapped cap and a big cheering hand glove-thing.)  
> (Edit: I changed this up a little because I wanted it to be seen on the first chapter, the second chapter now has art because of reasons)(but I compromised because I don't want to attack anybody with a huge note..)(is this still huge?)

The first time he feels the pull of this soul, he is already there.

It is a chaotic time in the British country, pulled from one end to the other, like a dog on a leash, to catch the metaphorical timers being snatched under the feet of any and all caught in the "War".

(It isn't the definition of what he'd call a _good time._ ) 

(It doesn't help that he often has to go through the pesky wards of every Greg and Alva to get to them.)

(It _also_ doesn't help that these people have the same ability as those three brothers who _tricked him_ all those centuries ago.)

He is catching his breath from all the energy he had to expend in getting to the _rest_ of the _millions_ of souls in the world, that are meant to be collected _as well,_ when there is another bell ringing close by.

He sighs, mentally grumbling that Boogey just _had_ to pick _this week_ to vanish his _re_ _apers_. 

_And all his minions too._

He sighs again. At least he had his scythe.

* * *

He steps out of the portal in front of a house. 

A very _magical_ house.

A very _magical_ house with a very _magical abomination knocking on the wards._

* * *

The man's name is James Potter. 

He tries to rush the process, as he feels the third soul in the house calling just a second after he's past the door. 

(He won't acknowledge the _thing_ that's entered just before him as anything remotely close to a _living._ )

But the man refuses to cooperate, and he has to relent if he wants to stay on time. He couldn't know if the next soul might slip his notice while arguing.

Both are up the stairs, and in what seems to be a nursery, in a literal flash.

Lily Potter was ~~(poised for an attack,)~~ defending her corner with a look of desperate anguish. Her eyes never leaving the intruder.

(The second standing in a corner crying.)

"Not Harry, please not Harry—"

There were words. As she kept repeating her chant, she didn't step away even in terror. 

And her eyes deliberately flickered to Grim for the first time. 

* * *

It repeated the call. 

The kid was dead. 

(The pull was short and fast, and already so very fragile. Wrung _taut_ at those last moments. 

So it was, and wasn't, a surprise that it _snapped back._ )

And then he _wasn't_.

* * *

The kid was _infected_.

* * *

The parents _insist_ on staying there until the moment he has to leave, which means they will protest unless they see someone is there to find their son.

Fortunately for them, it's quiet. 

(He won't admit, but he is relieved for a second.)

 _Suspiciously_ quiet.

Looking around, he narrows a glare at the wreckage that is left of the room. 

* * *

The next time he is pulled to Harry James Potter is a few years later.

And by pulled he means the strongest pull he's gotten that wasn't _another_ near miss. 

( _Proper_ near miss. He doesn't know exactly what sort of _nonsense_ happened with the kid on the "Silent Night", but that _wasn't a miss._ )

In the time between that night —when the two strings _tied,_ and the child was passed from hand to hand to the despair of the Potters— and this one, he kept doing his job, he fixed his staff issue and exacted fitting retribution.

With _outrageous_ interest.

(He can't hide his malicious glee imagining Boogey cursing, hamstrung, being very _well cared for_ , enough to not be a bother for a long, _long_ time.)

 _Ahem_.

But since that night he kept the line of the last Potter in his hold, even in his free time and vacations.

The child seemed to be in a constant balance of mortal peril, thus the string kept playing tug in varying degrees.

He _hates_ it.

(That first night, in no more than a few hours, he was pulled back for a, less than final, bout of _hypothermia._ )

In this case, as he is closing in on the castle, he can peripherally feel two others in similar danger along with two of his servants.

A bathroom. A _mountain troll._

The smell was _disgusting_ , and he didn't even have a nose. 

His servants seemed surprised to see him, but bowed nonetheless. They knew of his distaste with dealing with the magical side of the human race. 

(Though not one knew why. He did his best to keep _that_ from leaking outside the realm, and keep it as _nebulous_ as possible within, so the _ridiculous notion_ that you could _fool death_ was _not advertised.)_

Three reapers and a troll enter a girl's bathroom. 

(The biggest joke on that statement is that the troll doesn't _die_ _._ )

Now, they stood watching as the three children fought to live. Trembling limbs and panicked screeches aside, the odds were they'd live.

A child won't often get into a situation where the danger is immediate and _powerful_ enough to warrant a reaper. The instances that do, bar exceptions, are somewhat netted under Fate's rule.

Child's luck or fool's luck.

(The latter messes with a few of the ones he'd _really_ like to reap.)

* * *

  
(Which made him think back,)  
  


* * *

The third time is just months after the last, and he hopes this won't be an annual thing.

* * *

_~~(It becomes a thing.)~~ _

* * *

_Protections? The power of love?_

He very distinctly remembers that. _Not_.

After he ushers away the other reaper coming for the ... _Professor_ , he quickly and _calmly,_ and _without pain,_ wrenches the soul into the Beyond before he can do anything _else_. 

Unfortunately, though he didn't miss the other presence, he got distracted in the— _not carnage._

Plus, touching that, even with his scythe, is the equivalent —on his side of horrifying— of an over chewed, still wet and slimy gum.

(But _worse._ )

_Eugh._

He stayed with the kid for a while— _not_ because he was _worried, no._

(The _pull_ was _obviously at work here_. It was _mortal danger._ Look at the kid, he's even _fainted._ )

(He _carefully_ avoided that train of thought by investigating the scene. And promptly stealing, and _destroying,_ the _philosopher's stone._

 _Try and escape me now, Flamel._ )

~~(He also didn't think about the mention of a _cloak_. What were the odds it would be the very same?)~~

At the hospital wing, the kid slept again, undoubtedly scarred but living still. 

He had a feeling. From the moment where everything _stopped_ for a night —one in which he was the _only_ Reaper— to wait for someone, he's had a feeling. 

Fate was at it again.


	2. Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because I was too invested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my description of the Art:  
> Grim, a frowning skeleton, wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt that says: "Death at the stadium" over a picture of a mitt holding a skull with baseball markings, a cap with two balloon strings attached to the straps (the balloons are the heads of Harry potter, on the left: a smiling circle with round glasses, a lightning scar on the forehead, messy hair and ears, there is no nose. And Voldemort, on the right: an evilly - >:D - smiling circle with a jagged mouth, squinty eyes, slits for nose and no ears or hair), and a cheering glove pointing to the upper right with a skeleton hand drawn in ("#1" written on the index finger and "Harry Potter" written on the palm)  
> end of description.  
> you might be wondering why Voldemort has eyebrows and Harry doesn't.  
> ...

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration by dorkshadows on tumblr and their Grim & kids first meeting comic, which doesn't have anything to do with Harry Potter but it kickstarted the whole thing. The captions are hilarious: “Meet the Reaper” AKA Top 10 photos taken before disaster  
> Spoiler alert: Grim did not win the game. End of Captions.  
> (Something I really wanted to see was Mandy staring down and disturbing everybody and Billy being his usual glare inducing, head-exploding annoyance, but the crossovers, at least in ao3, are counted in a hand and with leftovers if we exclude mixed and I haven't read the one yet)  
> I might have more to write about this but I'm leaving it complete because it's not a sure thing I'll put it up. And holy dear, this is the first time I'm posting in years and I was just beginning to understand english without pulling up a translator then.


End file.
